Kain (Legacy of Kain)

Villain Overview Synopsis

Evil-doer
Full Name	Kain
Alias	None
Origin	Legacy of Kain
Occupation	Scion of Balance Ruler of Nosgoth
Powers / Skills	Immortality and regeneration Superhuman Physical Caracteristic Superhuman Jump Damage and speed ampifier High Combat skills Strategic/Tactic Stealth mastery Weapons mastery Shapeshift into a Bat, Wolf, Mist and Human Drink his victims blood Biological Evolution Telekinesis Teleportation Shooting magic projectiles Light, lightning and fire manipulation Soul manipulation Blood manipulation Time Stop (only one creature) Mind control Possession Non-Physical interaction and Enchanted senses Power absorption Able to destroy illusions Ability to generate stun Forcefield generation Kain as Scion of Balance, has the powers of the Circle of Nine: Elemental manipulation: Fire, Lightning, Water, Earth, Air, Ice and Darkness Energy manipulation and projection Creation (able to create objects with energy) Reflect/transferal Physical Damage Life/Nature/Biological manipulation Poison manipulation Comunne Nature Summon Natural Phenomena Ability to see/persive differents dimensions, Dimensional travel and able to summon creatures from other dimensions Necromancy Summon undead beings Soul Sealing Resurrection and self-resurrection Empathic manipulation Draw energy from the battle Matter state manipulation Time manipulation Space-Time manipulation (combine the powers of the dimension and time Guardian) Telepathy Illusion creation
Hobby	Impaling his victims.
Goals	Rule and later restore Nosgoth, destroy its manipulators and bring about the return of the vampires.
Crimes	Multiple murders World conquest Attempted genocide Terrorism
Type of Villain	Dark Messiah

“	VAE VICTIS!	„
	~ Kain

Kain is the protagonist and anti-hero of the Legacy of Kain series, acting as the main antagonist in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and protagonist villain for the Blood Omen timeline.

He was voiced by Simon Templeman in all of his appearances.

Appearance and Personality

Kain is initially introduced in Blood Omen as a human who's killed by a band of brigands. Upon his resurrection, Kain becomes a vampire and, initially seeking revenge on his killers, is eventually entangled on a plot to defeat the Circle of Nine, the corrupted guardians of the land, while seeking for a cure for his vampiric curse. As the game progresses, however, Kain starts to embrace his vampirism, eventually coming to terms with his current existence upon learning of his role as the last member of the Circle and shifting his goals into becoming ruler of the now corrupted land of Nosgoth. In this game Kain is seen as a middle-aged man, with pale skin and wearing a black set of armour and red leather.

In Blood Omen 2, Kain is once again set on revenge, this time against the Hylden Lord, while seeking to regain his rule upon Nosgoth. His appearance is mostly similar to the first game, initially wearing less armor with his torso exposed before changing into a hooded robe and a golden set of armor with spiked shoulders by the end of the game. In the two Soul Reaver titles and Defiance Kain is seen with a more mutated appearance, with three-fingered claws in place of his hands and pointed protusions on his face. Having spent millenia uncovering the secrets of Nosgoth and his own existence, Kain has shifted his motivations towards restoring Nosgoth and destroy those who would manipulate him to further their own agendas or prevent him from fulfilling his role as the Scion of Balance.

The character of Kain grew significantly throughout the games. He is initially seen as a petty nobleman who blindly seeks revenge for his death, showing cynism and a misanthropic disdain for humanity, with little to no concern for the fate of both Nosgoth and those who lived there, something which allowed him to easily become a unwilling pawn for the machinations of both Moebius and the Hylden Lord. After embracing his vampiric powers Kain begins to lust for power, while striving to escape other's manipulations and forging his own destiny.

On subsequent games Kain, feeling the weight of his actions and of his destined role, becomes a more fatalist and cunning individual, though he values loyalty and sincerity above all else, despising traitors and cowards. Though he realizes his ultimate goal of restoring Nosgoth may be beyond his reach, he still takes careful steps to ensure his plans will go smoothly and as to not fall into traps laid by others. Despite his often violent temperament, he shows true compassion for his sons and those loyal to him.

Equipment

• Iron Sword: Kain's heirloom-quality blade he started out with back in the first Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain series.
• Mace: This allows Kain to stun his enemies in close quarters combat.
• Axes: These brutal duel-wielding weapons perfect for Kain to cut bloody swaths through multiple enemies.  Kain can't use magic or items while duel-wielding these axes.
• Flame Sword: More powerful then the Iron Sword in addition to the fact it causes fire damage to his foes.
• Soul Reaver: The most powerful weapon in Kain's weaponry arsenal, It is a flamberge-class sword with a broad, undulating serpentine blade,The sword is forged with metal and with the energy of the Pillars of Nosgoth,making the sword (like the pillars),indestructible(The sword only can be destroyed by a paradox,like fight with another version of the same sword or traing to absorb his own soul).

The Reaver was originally an enchanted sword, forged by Vorador at the Ancient vampires' behest to destroy their prophesied adversary, the Hylden champion. It could drain its victims' Blood, but was altered when it absorbed the soul of the time-traveling wraith Raziel. Hereafter, Raziel's spirit inhabited the blade, and it obtained the ability to devour the souls of those it struck. Much later in Nosgoth's history, when Kain attacked Raziel with the physical blade, it proved unable to devour its younger self, and shattered, releasing Raziel's soul (the Wraith Blade)

The sword is able to devour the souls of the creature that strikes,to absorb the soul of wraith raziel,the sword is made of two parts"The material" and the "spectral" by this, the sword attacks in a multi-dimensional way, attacking in the spectral and material realm to the same time.The sword also has other abilities like:the ability to drain the life energy of the creatures that hits,increase his power when hit,can destroy magical barriers like: Holy barriers,earth and ice barriers and protective barriers,also can make a small forceshield that protects the wearer.The sword can be equipped with an artifact known as "Balance emblem",the artifact it is made of 5 pieces,each one alignaed to a principle of the Pillars of Nosgoth,being: "Balance","Lighting (energy)","Flame (conflict)","Dimension" and "Time".Each one given specific powers to the Soul Reaver:

Balance: Surrounds the reaver with red energy,that increases the damage that the sword can make,also allows to make a energy onde weave and destroy holy barriers from one single hit.

Dimension: Allows Kain to /quickly teleport or move quckly beetwen dimensions and attacking several enemies in an consecutively,ignore speed.Also the green energy that surrounds the sword,when attack,reflect the damage ,damage nearby enemies.

Flame (Conflict): The sword is surronds the sword with fire,his hits set fire to the enemy by a short time, also gives to Kain the ability to pyrokinesis,at long range and can induce anger in nearby enemies,make that they attack each other.

Lightning (Energy): The hits create a chain of electtricity rays that hit the nearby enemies.

Time: The hits slow stuck enemies and can time slow in area.

The sword can also manipulate the: Air, fire, ice, light ,earth, darkness and spirit.

Light Reaver: Blinds enemies,one by one or in area, operates crystal oriented devices)

Dark Reaver: Make the user invisible, can create matter from darkness,creating mini-shadows that chase and hit enemies.

Fire Reaver: His strikes burns enemies and can make a exploxion of fire.

Air Reaver: His strikes create whirlwinds and can make a tornado.

Water Reaver: his stucks freezing enemies and can make a exploxion of ice.Able to freeze water.

Earth Reaver: Grants the user control over his own weight, used to create earth brigdes,his attacks reflect in nearby enemies.

Spirit Reaver: The only Reaver attuned to the Balance element, can purificate and increases much the power of the Blade.

The sword being in contact with another version of it (whether physical or spectral), has the ability to distorcion reality,creating paradoxes and even new time lines only with stay close, Kain as Scion of Balance, meets the requirement,since within he has a spectral version of the sword inside him (Spirit Reaver) and has the Soul Reaver, so Kain is able to manipulate reality with the sword,beacuse he is a walking time-paradox.

Also gives Kain something call: Acausality; Type 2: "Temporal Singularity: Characters with this type of Acausality do not exist in either the past or the future, only the present. This means they cannot be affected by changes to the past, while also making them resistant to Precognition that works by viewing the future, as they do not exist within it, and Fate Manipulation, for the same reason. In essence, they are able to choose their own fates, but they remain just as vulnerable at the point in time in which they do exist".

• Iron Armor: Kain's standard armor back in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain,gives kain high protection and resistance to fire.
• Bone Armor: When Kain is wearing this armor, weaker undead enemies will ignore him instantly the moment they are within radius.
• Chaos Armor: When Kain is wearing this armor, any enemy that attacks him will take the same amount of damage he takes.
• Flesh Armor: When Kain is wearing this armor, it causes victims near-by to be instantly sucked from their blood, replenishing Kain's health.
• Wraith Armor: When Kain is wearing this armor, it causes him to take 50% the normal amount of damage at the cost of his mana.
• Flay: Flay artefacts were projectiles that homed in on an enemy, then ripped the flesh from its bones.
• Implode: If these projectiles struck an enemy, their body rapidly compressed. The remains exploded when the internal pressure became too great to be contained.
• Slow Time: Slow Time artefacts worked like a spell. All enemies and creatures in the area moved at a quarter of their normal speed for a limited time.
• Font of Putrescence: These artefacts were homing projectiles that caused enemies to decompose upon contact. The pool left by their dissolved bodies acted as a trap, promising the same fate to anyone that stood in it.
• Pentaliche of Tarot:  Tarot randomly picked how Kain's enemies would die. There were five different outcomes that could be dealt, and it killed all assailants who were in close proximity to Kain. From observation, it appeared that the five outcomes were as follows:
  • Flay.
  • Dissolve (Font of Putrescence).
  • Implode.
  • Explode into lots of tiny bits (like Flay, but with no skeleton left).
  • Exploding dismemberment (bigger bits left than 4, like when the Soul Reaver was used).

• Anti-Toxin: If Kain became poisoned, Anti-Toxin was the cure. These artefacts were particularly useful around Dark Eden, where Kain was frequently poisoned by the mutant inhabitants.
• Energy Bank: These artefacts filled Kain's magic reserves for a while, but when their effect faded, Kain was left with no magical energy at all. Despite this disadvantage, the Energy Banks were valuable for use with the Soul Reaver. They ensured Kain had the magical energy needed for the sword to show its full potential.

Powers and Abilities

Kain’s nature as a vampire grants him great superhuman strength: Able to move objcets of thousands and probably tens of tounsands of tons. Speed: able to react and dodge effortesly, attacks to massively hypersonic+ speed (attacks to real sky bolt speed), durability and regeneration, as well as great skill in magic. Kain is able to project energy from his hands, create forcefields, manipulate the Blood and Souls of creatures, possession,summon sky bolt , the ability to freeze a creature in time, is able to produce a mental shock in creatures stunned, the ability to manipulate light and he is able to shapeShift in differents forms.bHe possesses sharp claws and telekinetic powers, begin able to manipulate objects and people's of differents ways,along with various magical abilities known as Dark Gifts. Kain is expert tactical,conquest Nosgoth a supercontinent in only 100 years,even when he was the last vampire. Kain is also quite good using all kind of weapons but he his a swordman. Also Kain is very good in stealth, infiltrate in fortless without being detected. With the time, he gained new Dark Gifts from other vampires. His Dark Gifts include the ability to assume an intangible and invisible mist form, long distance jumping, the power to control the minds of the weak-willed, even higher speed, and pyrokinetic powers, as well as enhanced telekinesis from the Hylden Seer.

After defeating the Hylden Lord, Kain spent the years refining his powers, now sporting the power to teleport, the ability to fire lightning bolts, and the power to change into a swarm of bats to travel around. Kain also has even strong telekinetic powers and became able to change into his mist form without mist nearby. He is also able to undergo any evolutionary sleep where he emerges with some new, less human adaption each time

Blood Omen 1

Shape-shifting: Kain can change of form into:

-Mist form: With the form of mist,Kain it becomes intangible against attacks and physical projectiles, as well as magical / energetic (it is only intangible to magic and energy when purified and converted into Scion of Balance), it also becomes immune to water and can pass through bars. It allows Kain to move faster than normal, it is able to activate and deactivate it in fraction of seconds. Normally Kain cannot attack in this form, but if are in contact with natural mist, can do so while maintaining its intangibility.

-Werewolf: Kain's turn into a black big werewolf,kain in this form can move more quikly than normal,jump maters of distance,can attack with his claws.The Werewolf become much more powerful during full moon.

-Bats: Kain can turn into a band of bats,allowing travel large distance quickly,also if the body of Kain suffer a major damage,he descompose and reform in bats, regenerating.

-Beguile/disguise : Kain change his aparence in human,useful to inflitrate and find information.

Repel: Create an energy field that makes Kain invulnerable and reflects magical spells.

Soul Death: Launches a projectile that removes the soul from the target.

Mind Control: With this spell Kain could throw a magic projectile that allowed him to replace a Human's Soul with his own, completely taking control of his victim's body and it's actions. While possessing an enemy, Kain's soul-absent body would be protected against all damage by a Repel barrier. The body possessed by Kain would immediately perish if it sustained enough damage or if the spell's grip was released, allowing him to regain control of his real body.

Spirit Wrack: Could be considered an upgraded version of the Control Mind spell, because it allowed Kain to fire a magical projectile that replaced any creature's Soul with his own, taking full control of his victim's body. Like the Control Mind spell, while his soul was absent, Kain's body would be fully protected by a Repel-like barrier; and if he decided to release his grip from the possessed body or it sustained enough damage, that body would inevitably perish.

Blood Shower: Kain removes blood from every creature in a range of 10 to 15 meters.

Blood Gout: When used, it allowed Kain to create a projectile from his own blood which upon striking an enemy, would drain their blood to feed Kain.

Incapacitate: Launches a projectile that freezes the person in time.

Inspire hate: Can inspire hate among the enemies, causing them to attack each other.

Lightning: Summon thunderbolts of the sky that fall at real speed and disintegrates enemies.

Stun: Causes a mental shock, which leaves the victim stunned.Also work with ghost.

Light: Kain create artificial light, it allows to illuminate an entire area, for several seconds, useful to avoid traps and avoid ambushes in dark places.

Sanctuary: The spell enabled him to Teleport back to his grave from any place in Nosgoth. If Kain's health was very low, this spell would also partially refill his blood vial when used.

Biological Evolution: Pupating, also referred to as evolution or devolution, is a characteristic unique to the Vampires descended from Kain and the own Kain. All such Vampires evolve by "retreating into quiescent states from which they emerge transformed", developing new dark gifts and abilities corresponding to their individual traits.

Enchanted senses and not-physical interaction: Kain is able to see and interact with spirits.

Blood Omen 2

Absorbing veins: To kill powerful vampire Kain "absorbs his veins" and gain the Dark gift (special abilities) of the vampire.

Blood absorption power: Kain can gain the power of anyone by drinking his Blood,and also gain physical strentgh and endurace.

Fury: Allows Kain make a much more powerful strike that normal, with his hands or a weapon.

Berserk: Allows Kain to attack and move, more quickly than normal.

Floating: Allows Kain to silently land nearby Enemies and strike undetected.The ability could also be used to slightly extend the range of Kain's jumping.

Jump/Super leap: Allows Kain to jump great distances.

Charm: Charm was the ability to "subjugate [mortal] minds" and control their actions, as long as they were nearby.

Immolate: Create a ring of fire that lifts the enemy in the air and then aflame.

Soul Reaver 1

Soul Necromancy: Kain is able to divide his own soul into several fragments, these soul fragments can be used to return to life corpses (in addition to turning them into vampires), the person that Kain resurrects with this method, obtains much of Kain's powers , however, this process leaves him quite exhausted, having to rest or consume blood to recover, likewise as many times as he does, he will have to give a smaller and smaller portion of his soul, and therefore the resuscitated is less powerful.

Lightning manipulation/generation: Kain can cast 2 types (more 1 variation) of electric Rays from his hands:

- Powerful short-range rays. This reaches 3 meters away, weakens/kill and immobilizes the target.

- Rays of long range: Kain uses it when the enemy is far away, he can control the direction and speed of the lightning, this is a little less powerful than the short range Rays:

- Yellow: is done with two hands, kain controls speed and movement.

- Violet: is a little more powerful than yellow, kain can control direction, but not speed.

These rays yellow and violet, are rays of charge, yellow takes 4 seconds to cast and the violet 1.8 seconds.

Teleportation: A normal teleportation that Kain can use for move or for combat. This ability his use also in Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance. The time to make varies but also is less that 1 second,also the form varies,sometimes Kain have the close his hands and anothers only with his mind, without moving.

Telekinesis (Blood Omen 1 and 2, Soul Reaver 1-2 and Defiance): Kain can manipulate objects to distance, can keep people in the air and move them in all directions, it can attack enemies internally, damaging them inside or drawing their blood, can launch a Telekinesis shot that can destroy large stone pillars and can make the same, simply moving his hand can make telekinetic explosions, hang the enemies and can create chains that immobilize the enemy in the air, regardless of what Kain does.

Scion of Balance powers

Kain as Scion of balance, Kain has access to the power of the "Pillars of Nosgoth", there are 9 pillars in total, being near indestructible, each one having a Guardian, these guardians are known as "The circle of the nine", each Pillar is connected to his guardian, either physically (giving him powers and givin them extremy longevity) or spiritually (if a guardian gets corrupted, the pillar will too).

The pillars are linked to the health of the world, if the pillars are healthy, the world is healthy,if the pillar are corrupt or destroyed, the world is effected.

The pillars gives each Guardian "immortality" in the sense of being able to live for at least thousands of years or not die from diseases, but they can be killed,Kain as Scion of Balance is bound to the pillars in a special way, not only gives him immortality by longevity (he also has by be a vampire), but gives him near invincibility since the pillars protect him from being killed, Kain can be injured and incapacitated, but it's nearly impossible to kill him.

Balance Guardians could draw upon other Guardians' abilities in order to kill off those who went astray.

Quotes

“	Gift? Pah! Vorador thought my curse a blessing. That we were gods and that mortals offered their blood as sacrifice so that we could enjoy our supernatural powers. And somewhere deep inside my new self I knew he was right. That mortal dreams were prayers. Prayers to us - begging for our power.	„
	~ Kain, Blood Omen

“	Conscience...? You dare to speak to me of conscience? Only when you have felt the full gravity of choice should you dare question my judgment! Your life's span is a flicker compared to the mass of doubt and regret that I have borne since Mortanius first turned me from the light... To know that the fate of the world hangs dependent on the advisedness of my every deed -- can you even begin to conceive what action you would take, in my position?	„
	~ Kain, Soul Reaver

“	Let’s drop the moral posturing, shall we? We both know there’s no altruism in this pursuit. Your reckless indignation led you here – I counted on it. There’s no shame in it, Raziel – revenge is motivation enough. At least it’s honest. Hate me, but do it honestly.	„
	~ Kain, Soul Reaver 2

“	Given the choice - whether to rule rule a corrupt and failing empire, or to challenge the fates for another throw, a better throw, against destiny - what was a king to do? But, does one truly have a choice? One can only match, move by move, the machinations of fate, and thus, defy the tyrannous stars.	„
	~ Kain, Defiance

" I knew what ominous hour this was in Nosgoth's history. For here was the event that had shaped my entire existence... I had cast my fate, refusing the sacrifice, damning the Pillars, and founding my doomed empire upon their ruins. I would raise the Sarafan priests to be my closest lieutenants, and would one day cast the strongest of them, my servant Raziel, into the abyss – dealing one last hand to play against Fate. But in the end, had it made any difference? Had I misread the signs, as Moebius told me? In my arrogance, had I missed my cast at destiny?„

~ Kain
 

Gallery

Images

Kain in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain.

Kain in Blood Omen 2.

Kain in Legacy of Kain: Defiance.

Kain's human appearance, as it appears in a mural on Soul Reaver 2.

Kain's sigil.

Videos

(2)Legacy of Kain Blood Omen Intro Pt. 2

"Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver" Intro

"Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 2" Intro